Silent Vigil
by Shadowsplosion
Summary: This is the story of one heroine as she meets the titans on her path to greatness. Or a great mess. Original character, obvious AU. Rated T for now, may go up. Set six months after the Brotherhood Ordeal in the Animated Series. First book of the Alecian Empire Trilogy.


**A/N**: I own Sally Downfall and Bergson! And most if not all of the future OCs introduced! Speaking of OCs, I'm totally OK with people PMing me with ideas for villains, or even reviewing with the ideas, but please don't submit your characters in the reviews because it'll get my story deleted and that's just bad. What I do not own is Teen Titans. Or DC. It would be cool if I did, but no.

So please, enjoy the story! I'd really appreciate reviews for ideas and improvements, but I don't mind if you just critique. I absolutely adore reviews, don't get me wrong. My preference is critique reviews though.

* * *

It looked like it was going to be another sleepless night. The girl sighed tiredly; this was the third time she'd been out all night and it was beginning to get to her. She closed the window, sighing a second time - now out of frustration – as she noticed the sun was beginning to rise. She wouldn't be able to go to sleep like this now. It'll be too bright. She didn't have any new curtains to blot out the sun yet, seeing as the old ones were far too small for the window. She sat on the bed, letting her mask slip off into her hands. Patrol had been longer than she'd thought tonight – she'd ran into a group of thugs at one point after stopping a minor theft, and whilst the latter was easier managed, the former had taken a while longer.

The crime rate had severely picked up since the start of the month. It was barely reaching the middle of February now – so that was not a good thing. There were whispers among the heroes that it was happening all around America; they were stretched thin as it was, and this worried the girl to some degree. She ran a hand through her white blonde hair, angling her head up to stare outside of the uncovered windows. Yes, the sun was beginning to rise. The sky in the opposite direction was still dark, but in the east, a mixture of yellow and orange on the horizon – the sun's rays were infectious. Everything it touched became brighter, enveloped in the soon to be blazing yellow hints of a new day. The sun shone against the buildings and power lines she could see from her window, giving her the impression that even the silhouettes were waking up to resume their lives. The day was soon to begin for some… but for some others, the day would never come at all.

But they didn't have sunrises like these in Alecia. It was strangely beautiful…when the crime wasn't interrupting it. Lucky for her, she knew that the crime usually died down around now. Maybe today she'd try to find out a little more about what she was up against. May as well make the most out of the lack of sleep.

* * *

The Teen Titans had just returned from dealing with a rather confusing situation that had occurred at the Jump City Docks. There had been a deal gone badly from the looks of it, although the situation had seemingly cooled down before the Teen Titans had arrived. Apparently, the gang had already been subdued by someone, although there was no police in sight and their handcuffs seemed to have been fashioned out of the rope that must have been in one of the nearby warehouses rather than the handcuffs that the cops usually used – unusual for the Titans, seeing as the situations never really fixed themselves. The sun was just beginning to peak through the sky, though still lay low on the horizon. Beast Boy had yawned, saying something about people attacking at ridiculous hours in the day before realising the job was already done.

Maybe a little slow to grasp it in comparison to the rest of the team, though it was pretty cool. Maybe one of the Honorary Titans were about to visit and just didn't inform them that they were on the way there. Or something. Though, that was a little too much of a positive thought, something that Beast Boy had been rather unfortunately reminded of after he'd voiced that thought himself. With a hand to the back of his head.

The Teen Titans had been informed (by a totally anonymous source) that there had been a deal going on – money for an artefact of some sort, not the usual sort of thing that gangs like these traded in the docks. So they'd arrived on scene to _this_. No action, just the transport of some gangsters to police cells to figure out what happened and the investigation of the scene. However, there was something amiss – the briefcase one of the gangs seemed to have with the money seemed to be nowhere in sight, along with the relic. Not good – had another gang somehow come in and stolen it, along with beating the two other gangs? A thief?

Robin had been – and still was - suspicious, of course. There weren't that many gangs this side of the city, and gangs didn't tend to leave their enemies alive (albeit unconscious) on the floor. That opened the search for more options such as Red X or even a suspiciously merciful Slade. The latter of the which was rather out of character behaviour, though Robin wasn't entirely sure himself if Red X would resort to murder. These were things he wouldn't voice, a decision better than the one Beast Boy had wrongly made minutes ago.

What was even – more – suspicious than the idea of Slade's weird behaviour in the event that this might actually be him, however, was that there wasn't anyone left standing. Literally nobody left standing. Those who had been had long cleared out, although it had literally taken them two minutes to arrive and anyone who had been trying to escape would have been spotted. So maybe there simply wasn't anyone left.

Robin had told them to fan out and search the area, as whatever had happened here had to have had a cause. It definitely didn't seem to be any villain that had been active in the city recently – after all, they'd frozen most of them and the few that had escaped were currently lying low – nor did it seem to be the work of any hero they knew around these parts, either, as they would have gotten a call at the least. Someone had to have done it… because the ropes definitely hadn't moved.

But then Starfire had spotted someone. She'd been hot on their trail, of course, but by the short time she'd taken to get to where she'd thought she'd seen them, it was as if they'd suddenly vanished into the shadows of the _dead end_ to the alley. Whoever it was had seemingly disappeared when she'd approached, as if they'd never been there in the first place.

So now they were at the tower, analysing reports of present and previous cases and occasionally asking Starfire questions as she made one of her Tameranian dishes. Did they seem villainous? Were they hurt? Did they even look normal? How could you let them get away? It was pretty obvious who'd asked the latter of which.

Starfire did not have as many answers as she'd like to. She'd only been able to get a small glimpse before they'd disappeared… And, well, she had none of the answers to her friends' questions. Nothing that would help the investigation. That had led to Robin reviewing the behaviour of villains – and on occasion, heroes – that may have done it and had reason to be in the area. Neither Slade or Red X had been seen since the Brotherhood Ordeal, although occasionally a theft would occur that Robin was pretty sure that Red X had done, primarily due to the fact that the items stolen were technological in nature and often things somebody like Red X would be able to sell on.

But they had no relevance to the missing artefact from tonight.

"We'll check back there tonight while we're on patrol, Star. We'll see if we can find anything relevant." Cyborg grinned at her, causing her to beam back. Patrolling with Cyborg was wondrous indeed.

* * *

She was not a single step closer to finding these 'Titans', and it was grinding on her nerves. They were easier to find where she came from, but as of yet she'd not found any here; there was a statue in the main part of the city that looked like one of the Titans at home, but on trying to activate it everyone started looking at her weirdly and the titan wouldn't respond. Which was strange, because she was pretty sure she'd done the activation ritual correctly. She wasn't quite sure what to do next if she couldn't find a working one – she wasn't allowed back into Alecia until she did, as she had to find out about this city. Jump City. Home of some Titans _that didn't seem to actually exist_. How irksome. Mayeb if she found some leads…

"Enough of that, though," Sally quietly said to herself, standing up and opening her wardrobe. She carried on, aware that she was entirely alone in the room. "I should probably ask the locals. There better be something in here that does not make me stand out." And there was. Probably. She just hadn't found it yet amongst the other random clothes in her wardrobe. Half of it was second hand charity stuff, though she'd managed to buy a few things with her meagre salary. (Well, where it permitted, at least; buying those spiky shoes from that overly colourful shop looked outright dangerous and she hadn't even bothered with the face paint because nobody else seemed to be wearing it). After a few minutes of rifling through the wardrobe, Sally picked out a set of attire that might go down well. She laid them on her bed – a green cardigan, a slightly old (but still wearable) dress and a pair of brown boots she bought a while ago. She slid off her current clothing, careful of the bruise that had formed on her shoulder from her activities yesterday, and tossed it into the basket that laid by the door. She proceeded to change into this new attire, out of the way of the window, before slightly huffing at the way her legs were somewhat exposed. Maybe she should have worn pants. But then again, she didn't have any shirts available (the rest were in the wash and her washing day was tomorrow because of the rota thing in her apartment for the washing machines was pretty strict) and wearing a dress with pants would be odd.

Suddenly, there was a knocking on the door. Not just three or four – but an almost ceaseless knocking. Sally nearly jumped out of her skin at the first, heart hammering in her chest like a hummingbird. She looked towards her door, before she approached the door and opened it. The face on the other side was none other than her Landlord, Mister Bergson.

"Hello, What do you want Bergson?" Sally asked, adding a yawn to punctuate the effect of being tired. The man that had only stopped banging seconds ago (He'd been doing it constantly for the fifteen seconds it had taken her to get to the door, because he didn't seem to particularly care about the poor door despite the fact that it was technically his property) regained his composure, straightening his tie before he started to speak. Sally looked at it and then back up at him. How distracting.

"Your rent, Ms. Downfall. It's Friday, remember?" He replied, looking at her coolly. Sally's eyes widened, caught off guard for a moment.

Oh yeah, rent was due in _today_. She should have remembered that earlier…

"Oh. I'll be right back then. Want a drink of anything? Coffee, orange juice, Jagermeister?" Sally inquired and wandered back into her apartment, although Bergson did not follow after her. Her apartment was pretty empty; the living room basically only consisted of a couch, table, and television, as well as sealed up boxes that indicated that she hadn't yet unpacked most of her stuff.

"I'm alright thank you, but isn't it a bit too early for alcohol, Ms. Downfall?" If she'd been faced towards him she'd have noticed the raising of his left eyebrow and then the ever watchful gaze he gave to her apartment, as if searching for error. And that was starting to make her nervous, if only slightly.

"You ask me that every time you come for rent and my answer's gonna stay the same," Sally smiled, trying to hide the discomfort she was beginning to feel from his searching gaze. "Never too early for the Jagermeister," Sally simply said with a confident nod, before walking back inside her apartment – she left the door open, a sign for the Landlord to come in as he wished. He didn't, though – just stayed in the door and waited. What a shame.

Sally entered her bedroom again and opened the drawer, picking up her cheque book. It was a wonder Bergson accepted these things. Her last Landlord hadn't and it'd been so frustrating to try and sort out. She opened the cheque book, removing one of the cheques to fill it in as she had for the last two months using the pen she'd stored next to it. Yes, that'd do…

Sally approached the door, handing the cheque to the Landlord. He checked it and nodded, before placing it into the front pocket of his blazer. Smart man. The Landlord seemed to relax as he mentally confirmed that she'd paid the right amount, before they said their goodbyes and parted. Sally closed the door again after he'd left, sighing as her hand left the handle. She had work to do now. People to question. She had to find those titans.

* * *

**A/N:** Perhaps not as good as it could have been, but this is setting the scene… and I wrote like half of this when I was supposed to be asleep. Because peanuts. Reviews are welcomed, no matter which type. Expect a witty reply to any flames, because banter is fun and I like my lasagne warm.

Where do you think she'll end up after this? Definitely not straight under the wing of Batman, that's all that I can say.

I will be having a 'mailbag' for any questions you have.


End file.
